Dungeon Odyssey [EN]: Chapter 74

Dungeon Journal- Episode 75

#32. How the Naga King Fights

“Still, they are nobles from the deep, so there must be a reason. We should hear them out first…”

“Nonsense! This is an invasion! They’re marching up with an army of over 2,000! What conversation are we going to have now? Do you think if we flatter them, they’ll retreat?”

“But we can’t go against the nobles…”

“Since when were they nobles? Aren’t we all just masters of the dungeon in the end? I don’t understand why we have to be so submissive!”

The spacious room prepared as a conference hall was no different from a marketplace, filled with representatives from each dungeon arguing loudly.

“This is the underground, the underground! Not the sunny world above ground, but the underground where only power matters! I’d rather explode with my dungeon than yield to the hollow name of nobility!”

Malakserus, the King of Hammer and Anvil, screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Why is nobility just a hollow name? They have the power and tradition to match, so they are nobles. Especially those who live in the deep. The King of Hammer and Anvil is underestimating them. Has his head been turned from being next to the hot furnace?”

“The furnace has heated my heart, not my head! I’m not like you, Corinthus, hiding in the swamp and just watching!”

At first, they were discussing the invasion of the 10th floor nobles, but at some point, it turned into a situation where they were criticizing and attacking each other.

Well, it wasn’t unreasonable. They had gathered because of a common enemy, but they were still in a relationship of competition for survival. There was no way a sense of unity would suddenly arise.

“Stop, stop!”

Kim Jin-woo, who had been watching, couldn’t listen anymore and cut them off.

The dungeon masters, who had been shouting with veins popping out, shut their mouths at his words. It was a sight that didn’t match their proud nature.

But they had no choice because those gathered here had come trusting in his name alone. He was the leader of the Naga Fortress, who had achieved a series of victories by defeating powerful enemies.

Moreover, behind him was Anatolius, the Count of Ironblood from the 11th floor, so none of the dungeon masters gathered in this conference room wanted to displease him.

“Pathetic. The enemies are right in front of us, but you’re all so relaxed. It seems like everyone here can protect their dungeon even if 2,000 troops come. Is that right?”

That must have been why. The dungeon masters didn’t get angry at his harsh words. Instead, they were just looking around.

“No? Then why are you spouting such pathetic nonsense!”

From the beginning, it was an alliance created by selecting only those with moderate tendencies. They excluded insidious individuals like Valishus and filtered out those with strong personalities, and now they had ended up like this.

Kim Jin-woo yelled at their pathetic behavior.

“There are 2,000 elite troops! Nearly a hundred hero-level summons are leading the vanguard! It’s an overwhelming force! Even if you combine all your forces here, it won’t be enough! That army is now marching right up to the entrance to the 9th floor! To trample on your dungeons!”

His words turned the vague war situation into a clear reality. The faces of the dungeon masters turned pale, as if they were imagining their dungeons surrounded by 2,000 troops.

“You should be gathering all your forces and working together, but you’re busy tearing each other apart. The 10th floor nobles would love that.”

He glared at them with sharp eyes and said another word, and they belatedly cleared their throats or avoided his gaze.

“I will fight them even if the fire in my furnace goes out! This hammer and anvil are not just for hammering iron!”

Malakserus, the King of Hammer and Anvil, stood up and shouted vehemently. Half of the masters nodded and expressed their agreement, as if hoping for support.

“How?”

Kim Jin-woo poured cold water on them once again.

“Does the King of Hammer and Anvil have the insight to stop the army of 2,000?”

Malakserus looked at him with a bewildered face, as if he thought that anyone who would summon the allied forces would naturally share his opinion.

“Well, everyone should work together…”

A childish opinion that even a child could come up with. It was not a plan, just a random collection of words.

“It’s hopeless, hopeless. I’d rather join those nobles.”

The atmosphere in the room froze as he sighed and threw out those words.

That was because they belatedly realized that he was the only underground noble on the 9th floor.

Perhaps they thought that the nobles wouldn’t harm the territory of another noble, so they looked dismayed.

They needed his and the Naga’s strength to stop the 10th floor nobles.

In reality, the reason why that massive army was rushing to the 9th floor was because of the Naga Fortress, but they didn’t know the truth and were just pacing back and forth, restless.

It was a misunderstanding, but it was also a situation that Kim Jin-woo intended.

The moment these cunning and treacherous masters of the 9th floor realized that the nobles’ target was the Naga Fortress, they would turn their backs on him. They might even take the lead in attacking the relatively easy Naga Fortress.

“Then, does the Baron have a separate plan?”

Arianne, the Queen of Dream Haze, who hadn’t said a single word until now, asked him.

Wrapped in the wings of a black bat, she was looking at him with a captivating gaze that didn’t suit the grim conference room.

“I don’t know about a plan, but I have one idea.”

“Oh! As expected!”

“You are indeed the undefeated Baron!”

The masters of the 9th floor were delighted at the word that there was a way.

Kim Jin-woo sighed inwardly at their fickle appearance. Of course, he didn’t forget to give them a trustworthy look on the outside to instill confidence in them.

“I and the Nagas will drive them out.”

The room buzzed with the unexpected words.

“Of course, it’s impossible for me to do it alone. So, there’s something I need you to help with.”

***

The meeting ended, and the dungeon masters hurriedly left the Naga Fortress, saying they would rush to prepare for war.

However, two dungeon masters remained in the place where they had left.

“Do the King of Wanderers and the Queen of Dream Haze have something to say to me?”

Hecarim, a centaur with the lower body of a horse and the upper body of a human, and Arianne, the Queen of Dream Haze, remained in the conference room.

“Hmm…”

At his words, Hecarim looked at Arianne with an uncomfortable expression. But she didn’t care about Hecarim and immediately brought up the matter.

“The Land of Gluttony has been growing rapidly lately.”

“So?”

Kim Jin-woo frowned and asked, wondering what this was about. Arianne smiled captivatingly and said.

“There’s a rumor that it’s all thanks to the Baron.”

He was starting to get a sense of what was going on. He was belatedly able to understand what this difficult woman was talking about. But he still pretended not to know what she was talking about.

“You’re a bad person. A man should say these things first.”

In the end, Arianne, who had been circling around the main point, sighed and said, “A drowning man will clutch at straws.”

“The Land of Dream Haze and I, Arianne, want to become the Baron’s vassals.”

[The Subterranean Baron’s authority, ‘Oath of Vassalage,’ is activated.]

[Arianne, the Queen of Dream Haze, has volunteered to become the Baron’s knight.]

[Will you accept her?]

He had a hunch, and it was as he expected. Arianne had realized that Kim Jin-woo and the Naga Fortress were behind Uther’s sudden growth, and she had come out so aggressively.

After all, unless they waged war, they couldn’t reverse the growth of the dungeon that had begun to stagnate.

In the midst of all this, Uther, whom they had looked down on, suddenly stood above them, so they must have been impatient.

“Why? After this war is over, you will have a comfortable life in your own way. I don’t know why you would go under someone else.”

“Will this war really be the end?”

Unexpected words. Kim Jin-woo’s eyebrows twitched for a moment.

“I don’t think so. You won’t let it end like that, will you, Baron?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Conquer the 9th floor and put even the 10th floor under his feet. And finally, stab the deep nobles in the heart.

It was obvious that there would be war in the process, but it was also a fact that he couldn’t say yet. That was because he didn’t want the masters of the 9th floor, who were feeling the crisis, to unite.

“I am the Queen of Dream Haze, and I can see, albeit faintly, the image of that dream haze that has blindly made you.”

“Dream haze…”

Was she pointing out his desire for revenge against the Subterranean Duke? Kim Jin-woo felt more bitter than a sense of crisis at the fact that his inner thoughts had been revealed, perhaps because it was the queen of those who dreamed vain dreams who had noticed it.

“Oh, come on, how long are you going to keep me on edge? I, Arianne, will never betray you, no matter what. Your dream looks very delicious.”

Arianne’s face, which was hard to read, was a bit unsettling, but there was no need to refuse the incoming forces. After all, once they became vassals, they would have no choice but to follow him, no matter what they were thinking inside.

[Will you appoint Arianne as your fourth knight?]

“Accept.”

[Arianne of Dream Haze has become a vassal (knight) of Subterranean Baron Kim Jin-woo.]

[The fourth knight, Arianne, will share her fate with her master. If the Naga Dungeon is destroyed, Arianne will also be destroyed.]

[The Land of Dream Haze, which Arianne ruled, has become a ‘fief’ [a territory held by a vassal]. Arianne is still the ruler of a dungeon, but she has a master to serve. 20% of the dungeon energy accumulated in the core that governs the Land of Dream Haze belongs to the Naga Dungeon.]

[You can open a portal connecting the two dungeons at any time. But whether or not to open the portal is entirely at the Baron’s discretion.]

The message that he had seen several times reappeared, and Arianne knelt down and whispered words of loyalty.

“From now on, everything I have is yours, Baron, body and soul, as you wish…”

Looking at her sparkling eyes as she said that, it seemed that she wanted to enjoy the benefits of being a vassal like Uther as soon as possible.

But he had no intention of giving out easy Down Jam [a slang term for benefits or rewards], so she would be barking up the wrong tree for the time being.

“Are you here for the same reason?”

Hecarim was somewhat resentful that Arianne had made the first move, but he soon managed his expression and bowed his head.

“All the rumors circulating in the underground are about the Baron, so from now on, those rumors will become heroic tales and myths.”

The reason was somewhat different, but the result was the same.

“Good, I accept.”

***

‘How did the meeting go?’

Dominic, who couldn’t know the progress of the meeting because it was a meeting attended only by the dungeon masters, asked with an anxious face.

“First, we need to show those cowardly guys a convincing performance.”

‘Then are we starting right away?’

Dominic and Kim Jin-woo’s conversation was as natural as flowing water, as if they had prepared something in advance.

“No. I’ll drag them in a little more. After all, if they’ve shown their teeth once, they’ll show them again someday. So, I’m going to break the power of the 10th floor guys as much as possible now.”

‘It’ll be a close call.’

“Have we ever not had a close call?”

Kim Jin-woo smiled and Dominic smiled brightly, as if he was recalling the battles they had fought so far.

“Anyway, there were unexpected gains. The Queen of Dream Haze and the King of Wanderers volunteered to be vassals.”

‘They have a pretty good sense.’

“Whether it’s the 9th floor or the 10th floor, they’re the ones who have survived so far.”

Whether they were strong or weak, just surviving was a virtue in this underground world. Just the fact that they had remained as dungeon masters until now meant that they were competent enough.

“Call in the long-range patrols. We need to send them out now to make it in time.”

‘Yes, I’ll take care of it right away.’

***

Boreas was not in a good mood. He was annoyed by the creatures who dared to hold their heads high in front of him, but what he didn’t like even more was the 10th floor nobles who had entrusted him with the troops and didn’t even show their faces.

He didn’t know where they were hiding in the ranks, but they didn’t show up at all.

“Damn bastards. They’re rotten to the core.”

How did it come to this? The nobles, who were once decent, had become hopeless trash, corrupted by luxury and pleasure at some point.

“If they’re already hopeless trash, it’s better for them to stay quiet like this.”

“I don’t know. Will those cunning opportunists stay like that until the end? No matter what anyone says, this is an opportunity for promotion that hasn’t happened in nearly 100 years. If they see fruit in front of them, they’ll do anything.”

“They’ve lost their claws and fangs, but their greed remains the same.”

At the adjutant’s words, Boreas cursed and looked at the 9th floor passage that was finally beginning to appear.

“By the way, the Naga King… I wonder what kind of guy he is?”

“Even if he has a winning streak, isn’t he just a scrub who has been dealing with the mediocre guys on the 9th floor?”

“Don’t underestimate him. He’s a legendary figure who has led two major wars to victory and grown his dungeon in just a few months. Even Lord Parthenon has heard his name. There’s no way such an insignificant scrub could exist.”

Of course, he had been marked by Parthenon in a bad way and was now in a precarious situation, but he must have had something special about him.

That’s why the precious body of the 11th floor had promised him promotion and driven him out like this.

At Boreas’s words, the adjutant looked somewhat expectant, saying that was true.

Only then did Boreas relax his expression at the adjutant’s eerie eyes, which had followed him and become a war demon.

“If we get past here, it’s the 9th floor. I can already see the 9th floor guys running around in a panic.”

“While we’re at it, we’ll destroy all the dungeons on the route. Take the core and kill everything alive.”

Boreas, who casually spouted gruesome words, ordered the advance when his subordinates who had gone out to scout beyond the passage informed him that there was nothing wrong.

“Oh, so this is the 9th floor.”

“Sniff, sniff, this is a barbaric place.”

“Isn’t it romantic in its own way? Maybe there’s something here that will beautifully decorate my dungeon.”

The 10th floor nobles, who had come out of nowhere, stood at the head of the line and spouted nonsense.

Boreas, feeling a headache, glared at them, but the barons didn’t even snort, saying they were equal nobles even if they were corrupt.

“Step back! You’re slowing down the march! The formation is getting messed up!”

The nobles chattered a few words at Boreas’s angry words and then burrowed back into the ranks.

“Damn bastards.”

“But isn’t something strange? They were once so powerful that they could even threaten the 11th floor, but how did they become like that?”

Boreas frowned at the adjutant’s question. He had also been pondering the problem for countless hours, but he couldn’t find an answer.

“Hmm?”

Boreas, who had been lost in thought, tilted his head at the foreign smell that was digging into his nose.

“What is this smell?”

“Sniff, sniff, it smells like sulfur…”

A pungent and somehow stuffy scent was subtly mixed in the air. Feeling something was wrong, he was about to stop the formation when his face hardened.

The passages connecting each floor were not ordinary holes.

The black darkness that filled the passage was a bizarre thing that swallowed even the slightest sign or sound. Now, it was too late to stop the formation because there were too many creatures pushing and shoving from beyond the passage.

“Stop! Stop!”

Moreover, they didn’t listen to him at all. No one was transmitting the signal of the lead to those beyond the passage.

“Send a messenger! Tell those who haven’t crossed over yet to wait!”

“Yes, sir!”

Not long after the adjutant received the order and disappeared, a sudden roar erupted.

“Stop! Something’s wrong!”

The hero-level warriors at the head of the line also noticed something strange and shouted. But it was not easy to control the troops who were pushing and shoving through the passage.

Bang! Bang!

And when about half of the troops had come out of the passage, red flames suddenly bloomed in the entire passage, and a huge explosion occurred.